APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, has said that he won the just concluded Nigeria’s presidential election held on Saturday, February 25 and spilled over to Sunday and that he is heading to the courts to prove it.
Obi told a news conference on Thursday in Abuja that the controversial election was programmed to deliver pre-determined results.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, had on the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, 2023, declared the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner, having polled 8,794726, while Obi was placed third with 6,101533 votes and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was placed second with 6,984,520 votes.
The former Anambra State governor said that the presidential election failed to meet the necessary requirements and could not be adjudged credible.
According to him, Nigerians have been robbed of their true choice and that he will pursue justice through courts and is ready to challenge the results till he proves his argument.
“The election that we just witnessed had been conducted and the results announced as programmed. It is a clear deviation from electoral rules and guidelines contrary to what we were promised.
“This election did not meet the minimum standard expected of a free, fair, transparent and credible election. It will go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria.
“The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by our supposed leaders whom they trusted,” he said.
“Let me reassure the good people of Nigeria that we will explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim our mandate. We won the election and I will prove it to Nigerians,” local media reports quoted Obi as saying
The spokespersons of the other political parties which are front runners in the presidential election, who earlier called for the cancellation of the result of the election, described the conduct of the election by INEC as the worst election ever conducted in Nigeria since independence.
Some foreign observers, who monitored the elections stated some anomalies noticed during the elections, which included pockets of violence, delays and failure of election officials to report at polling stations.
In the same vein, some Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria, which were involved in the monitoring of the presidential election also confirmed that the election was marred by violence and irregularities, including failure by INEC to follow the electoral guidelines.
GIK/APA
Breaking: Peter Obi to challenge result of Nigeria’s presidential poll in court
